Framework Just Made Their Best Laptop Yet

[00:01] event in San Francisco. They put me up in a nice hotel and fed me yummy food. not sway my opinions on their announcements. Let's start with the star of the show, a brand new version of their Framework 13, the 13 Pro.

[00:17] The Framework 13 Pro is bringing us a refined CNC aluminum chassis. It comes in black, aka graphite, which looks quite sharp. Silver looks a little dated the MacBook Pros, and the black feels more modern. The new color does pick up

[00:31] fingerprints pretty badly, so it's still available in silver if you prefer that. and well-built, but the difference was not as big as I was expecting. The size too much because they've made it backwards and forwards compatible. All

[00:47] the displays fit in both chassis, old mainboards can go in the new chassis and vice versa. On the keyboard, there is now an alternate colorway, as Framework calls it, with gray and orange accent keys on their black keyboard. I love

[00:59] this. It truly makes it look like a laptop that belongs to a coder. On the other hand, they have a lavender accent option, too, which I expected to like more, but I think the white text on the lighter lavender keys makes them hard to

[01:12] read. Another big announcement on this new 13 Pro is that we are getting a brighter 2.8K touchscreen option. This not only helps small text look sharper with its high resolution, but also adds functionality we did not have

[01:24] previously. It's rare that we see a matte, non-reflective display that also supports touch. As with the prior screens, 13.5 inches more vertical space than many modern laptops. Still, it's disappointing that

[01:38] it's an IPS panel, not an OLED or tandem OLED. Instead of the screen, the crowd was more excited by the haptic touchpad. >> We know that touchpads are where Windows and Linux laptops have typically fallen

[01:50] behind MacBook Pro, so we put a ton of focus on this. Framework's mechanical trackpad might be one of the better ones I've used, but finally having a haptic option is great. I got to try the touchpad, and I think the tap-to-click

[02:02] was a bit too sensitive. I found myself double-clicking a little, but tracking unit with some minor settings changes, it would be fine. In terms of overall quality and premium feel, this laptop is nicer than it used to be, but not as

[02:16] nice as something like Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7i Ultra. That is the most premium laptop I've ever used. The Framework 13 Pro simply isn't at that level, but I'd say it's getting to the level of other metal laptops, like the Samsung Galaxy

[02:29] Book 6 Pro. Now, while these improvements are great, the new Intel processors are just as exciting. All three CPU options offer benefits that we help you figure out how these perform, I'll be showing you some example laptops

[02:43] with these chips. First, you've got the higher-end 16-core X CPUs, which offer solid performance rivaling Apple's M5 base chip, but definitely not at the level of an M5 Pro chip, both of which can be found around this price point.

[02:56] support these new 16-core Panther Lake chips. The 8-core CPU falls near the bottom here, but it lasts forever on battery, which is probably where Framework's 20-hour battery life claim is coming from. Of course, we'll have to

[03:10] test that and see what it actually gets because they test video playback, and we don't feel that's very realistic. We do office tasks instead, and likely what we think someone would actually do unplugged.

[03:25] battery life than last gen, though, especially since they've included a especially since they've included a larger 74-W battery instead of the 61. This new one is still compact enough to fit in the same space as the smaller

[03:37] one, though. Lastly, back on the CPU options, both higher-end X chips bring awesome integrated GPU performance, similar to an entry-level dedicated GPU. I often use X chip laptops for light creative work, like reviewing our videos

[03:49] job of that. Another improvement to the internals is the 13 Pro's LP-CAM memory modules. These can offer fast memory speeds comparable to soldered RAM while still being replaceable. This technology is super cool. We're glad to see

[04:04] Framework is the first to truly embrace it here. But, let's talk about where the team and I were a little disappointed. There is still a single-fan cooling solution. Panther Lake is more efficient than prior chips, yes, but I still think

[04:17] we're going to want two fans with those more powerful X CPUs. A more effective under heavy load and a cooler-feeling laptop. I imagine this decision was made because of compatibility, but I do hope they find a way around it soon. We'll

[04:33] load, so get subscribed with the notification bell on so you can see our all of its performance modes to see which has the best balance between Okay, now for the rest of the announcements. The Framework 16 is

[04:47] getting a facelift, or I guess you could say they're filling in the cracks. One Framework 16 is how its modular design around the keyboard and trackpad makes it look janky and sometimes even cheap. The pieces moved around a bit when you

[05:01] touch them, so I'm glad to see a new haptic touchpad that comes on a singular plate, which looks much cleaner and more cohesive. The part housing the keyboard will also have a single-plate option. Both of these make the laptop look much

[05:13] better, but it's still a clunky laptop. Another new product for the Framework 16 can use an external GPU directly via eight PCIe lanes. This avoids the bandwidth issues of other external GPUs

[05:26] that connect via USBC or Thunderbolt. With this dev kit, you can either connect to a Framework GPU module or a desktop GPU. We're actually testing quite a few external GPUs right now for a big video on them. I'll add this one

[05:38] over was their new wireless touchpad keyboard, which I will admit looks a lot like a product I already have in my home. We use ours for the living room PC we game on and connecting to our servers. If you also have one, you might

[05:52] know they can be a bit janky and don't always work perfectly. If this thing can it'll be great. Regardless, it will get Framework in front of more people, which announced is their new laptop bag for the 12-in and 13-in Frameworks. The

[06:07] black one looks fine, pretty boring, whatever, but the silver one, which I think they're going for like a spacesuit look, really just ends up looking like duct tape. I did not like it, and I think it looks cheap. All right, let's

[06:20] wrap. We like what we're seeing here a lot. In the past, Framework laptops didn't make sense for most people outside of techie land. The modularity can look sort of Frankenstein, and the chassis weren't very stylish. Plus, they

[06:34] often negated the whole value proposition of an upgradeable laptop. cheaper to just buy a regular laptop, sell it every 3 years, and get a new one? But, now we are seeing Framework address

[06:49] this. Firstly, the Framework 13 Pro looks and feels more premium. Nice enough that I'm willing to recommend it to more mainstream users. It's now more competitively priced. We are seeing laptops with X chips go for well north

[07:03] of the $2,000 this one costs, and they don't offer the repairability and upgradeability of a Framework. Also, there has never been a better time to delighted that Framework is doubling down on their commitment to support

[07:16] Windows laptops are just getting way too expensive, as I said, and Windows itself is getting worse. Who wants Copilot and advertisements constantly shoved down their throat? Back on Framework, one product Josh mentioned he would love to

[07:29] see is a thin and light with a larger screen. He and I feel that many work off of while maintaining portability that the Framework 16 Anyways, that's everything we've got on this announcement. Make sure to get

[07:42] because we'll absolutely be reviewing the 13 Pro when it comes in and putting Thanks for watching, and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day.